Presented here are the contest results gathered so far for DEF CON 17. For more info on individual contests, check out their pages and forums to the right. If you have results you'd like to add, contact neil [at] defcon ]dot[ org and they'll get posted.

Capture the Flag 2009

Binjitsu results!

VedaGodz finish just barely ahead of Routards. For those that were not at the awards ceremony, sk3wl bowed out due to a conflict of interest.

Bunnies for Priest (dotzero, phenfen, fizzgig): 1,799 points. [If they would have gotten the final answer correct, they would have made final HJ. But they did wear funny bunny ears.]

The Reds (Sir, Kaiser, Feech) - aka "Evil Vendors": negative 1,000 points. [First time we allowed a single-vendor team. Not to embarrass them based on their performance, but I think the initials for the company are McAfee.]

WINNER: MobileDisco (Jolly, Zfasel, Sakebomb): 2,199 points. [Were way behind at the end, but bet all but one and got it right. Gotta love come-from-behind endings.]

Saturday Aug 1, 2009
Final round:

Whopis (whopis, Reid, Mac Smith): 1,600 points. [The only team to get the final hacker jeopardy answer correct, but they were too far behind to catch up.]

MobileDisco (Jolly, Zfasel, Sakebomb): 0 points. [Bet it all and lost it all. 'Nuff said.]

Team Godwin (shardy, hypatia, F*ckin' Alex): 499 points. [Honorable mention for 14 beers. Would have won it all if they knew the right final answer.]

**NiceHat (Grey) (POPS, EMK, JPTerr0r): 2,399 points. [Winner! But so drunk at the end that their answer had something to do with Winn's tux. Good thing they didn't bet it all.]

Winner of Black HAXOR badge: NiceHat (Grey)

NOTE: Last year's defending champion team NYMPHS (Billy GOTO, Foofus, BobCat) didn't defend. Hey, just because you got laid off and are living in the gutter doesn't mean you can't ride a railcar to Vegas.

Special awards:

* Rosie Ruiz Award (look it up): third year of cheating bigtime (using 3GL cellphones to look up answers, cellphone earbuds connected to audience members doing Google searches, digging beer bottles out of the trash and putting them on the stage to try to get credit.) Still didn't win.

** Humperdink Award (most beers consumed in one round): NiceHat (Grey): 20. One short of Vegas 2.0's 21 beers from last year, but they were probably cheating then as well.

Final Hacker Jeopardy Question:

Category: Nerds

A: He coined the term "nerd" in a 1950 picture book.

Q: Who is Doctor Seuss (Theodore Giesel)? [Book: If I Ran the Zoo]

Scores and results certified by G. Mark (judge and scorekeeper)

DEF CON 17 Badge Hacking Contest

We had 32 contest entries this year up from twenty of DEF CON 16 and seven of DEF CON 15. The submissions ranged from simple firmware modifications to hardware modifications to additions of random things using only the badge as a mounting plate. Words cannot describe how awesome it is to see what people come up with each year, especially after the torturous design process of the badge!

Those who know me know I play no favorites, but with more close friends participating in the contest each year and with the overwhelming number of submissions to decide from, I decided to bring on The Dark Tangent and Zac Franken to help with the judging. We each reviewed the submissions and selected our favorites, then narrowed down the Top 3 and Honorable Mention from there. A few people have said "You shouldn't allow friends to participate in the contest," which would rule out a large majority of DEF CON. The contest exists to award the most ingenious, obscure, mischievous, or technologically astounding badge modification created during the weekend and is supposed to be fun and encourage people to try new things and show off their skills. Nothing more than that, nothing less.

For next year, as opposed to awarding the Top 3 in an all-inclusive category, I'm thinking of creating multiple categories and choosing a winner in each one:

* Best hack using available features (for example, this year would have been microphone, LED, and digital signal controller functionality)
* Most relevant to DEF CON
* Most mischievous or obscure
* Best use of a previous year's DEF CON Badge

However, since there is only *one* black badge to give away, the overall winner would then be picked out of those category winners. If you have any thoughts on this, let me know.

DC17 Badge development information (schematics, firmware, slides, links to badge hack project files, etc.) can be found on my site here:

Thanks to everyone's support and participation. I hope to see you next year!

Joe Grand aka Kingpin

1ST PLACE: Anti-Surveillance System by Zoz
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This entry comprised two phases:

1) Defeating automated facial recognition by generating alternating colors and patterns of light at a frequency slightly less than 60Hz in order to create optical noise (based on research demonstrated at the 2006 ACE, Advances in Computer Entertainment)

2) Aiding in bypassing PIR motion sensors ala the movie Sneakers using the DEF CON 16 Badge. The badge had a temperature sensor to let you know when the room was the proper ambient temperature (body temperature is ideal) and then a servo motor would move two plastic feet to guide the user as to how slowly to move through the room to not trip the system (two inches per second in the movie).

2ND PLACE: Sound-Fearing Blimp by Team Hack the Badge
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Three badges attach to the bottom of a toy blimp. Each badge drives a fan based on the sound level detected on its microphone, which effectively steers the blimp away from high noise areas.

HONORABLE MENTION: Super Mekka Uber Badge Hack by Smitty & The Minions/Team Halibut
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This was the only team to combine all seven badges together, complete the puzzle, and take advantage of the badge-to-badge communication feature. They modified the stock firmware to perform some LED animations across all of the badges. A great exercise in teamwork and social engineering.